Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAB) goes against the fundamental principle of secularism in the Indian Constitution and democratic and non-sectarian values. There is no place of religious discrimination in a secular society that has the followers of many religions.
If people started discriminating against others on the basis of their religions then that will lead to social and political chaos in the whole of India.
The Hindutva fascists are creating conditions where they can set the militant Hindu mobs against Indian Muslims. That will lead to massacres and violence. This is a very dangerous and ill-chosen political course by the Chief of Hindutva forces who is the Prime minister of India now.
In 1992, a large Hindutva fascist mob led by some extremist right-wing parties demolished the 15th-century Babri Mosque in Ayodhya in full glare of publicity. One month later, Dr Shamsul Islam, an Indian academic, visited the site of the demolished mosque and the city of Ayodhya. He wrote his article based on what he saw and heard from the Muslim victims of large-scale pillage and destruction of their homes and properties in the city of Ayodhya by the anti-Muslim Hindutva militants and Hindu zealots.
In view of the Indian Supreme Court’s verdict on 9 October this year, Dr Shamsul Islam has added his views on secularism in Indian state and society to his 1992 article. The highest court of the country had made an unprecedented travesty of justice and the rule of law.
The author’s eye-view account helps us to understand the events in India where the Hindutva fascists with the help of some prominent politicians, police and civil authorities went on a rampage of the Ayodhya city where Muslims lived. The atrocities and barbarity of the Hindutva militants against the Muslim population of the city are horrifying.
The information given by the author is also important for political observers, writers and human rights activists to analyse the dangers of the extremist ideology of militant Hindutva, which is directed mainly against Indian Muslims, but it also extends to Christians, Dalits and other ethnic groups.
Now in the latest twist of events came the Supreme Court of India’s verdict on the case relating to the site of the Babri Mosque. The verdict delivered on 9 October has stunned and shocked many people around the world. The age-old principles of the impartiality and non-sectarianism in applying laws of the land were thrown to the wind exactly as the Hindutva fascists wanted. The demands of the Muslim community for justice in a long-drawn judicial struggle for over 27 years for the site of the razed mosque were ignored.
In fact, the Supreme Court did as the Hindutva fascists wanted. The court also took the extraordinary step by ordering the central government to prepare a plan within three months for building a temple of Rama, a mythological Hindu king revered as a Hindu god by many Hindus on the site of the razed Babri Mosque. Thus the facade of Indian democracy, secularism and rule of law became vacuous words, while the power of the Hindutva received the full judicial backing by the highest court of India
What criminals could not achieve on December 6, 1992, is legitimized by Court
{Dr. Shamsul Islam, Political Science professor at Delhi University (retired).}
The author visited Ayodhya one month after the demolition of Babri mosque by the RSS/Shiv Sena/BJP cadres. It presented a picture of carnage, devastation, criminal participation of the Indian State in it but also underlining of the fact that secularism was not dead in Ayodhya. But today, on the 27th anniversary of the demolition of the Babri mosque I am not so sure, specially after the Supreme Court judgment on November 9, 2019, handing over mosque site to those who had razed the mosque. The moral of the story is that whatever criminals could not achieve on December 6, 1992, is legitimized by the highest court of justice of India.
The short report is being produced in full, courtesy to The Sunday Times of India.
Shamsul Islam
December 6, 2019
{Dr. Shamsul Islam, Political Science professor at Delhi University (retired).}
Publication Date: Jan 17, 1993
Publication Name: The Sunday Times of India, Delhi.
HUMAN LIFE BRICKS AND MUD IN AYODHYA
By Shamsul Islam
A visit to Ayodhya, more than a month after the December 6 tragedy, reminds one of the hunted city. It is a city under siege by paramilitary forces. They are on high alert. What is to be guarded now? Nobody knows. The deep wounds of carnage and plunder are still visible.
The walls of Ayodhya are still covered with sectarian war cries in Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, etc. The claims of the champions of Hindutva, that the police and military are with them are still engraved on the walls of the city-mocking the secular state.
You have to be in Ayodhya to realize that the tragedy was far more than the demolition off a mosque. Away from Ayodhya, the only dimension off the tragedy which we heard related to the demolition of a structure of bricks and mud. We overlooked the human tragedy, the human carnage and plunder caused by zealots of Dharma. Ayodhya symbolizes the fact that human flesh is the cheapest commodity around.
While moving towards Ayodhya, you chance upon a refugee camp just on the outskirts of the holy cit. It is being run at Badu Bua ki Masjid (Old Aunt’s mosque), which houses an orphanage too. More than 1500 refugee, males, females and children of all age groups are packed like sardines here. A similar number of refuges have been sheltered in Quresh nursery camp in Fazibad. Most of them are wage-earners, petty shopkeepers, vendors, cycle repair walls, rickshaw-pullers and their dependents. They are being fed and clothed through community donations. The state was gracious enough to donate 130 blankets.
Soul chilling: The stories of barbaric destruction and sadistic killings are should-chilling. Everything which belonged to approximately 4500 inhabitants belonging to the minority community in Ayodhya was singled out to be burnt. The vandals at work had minute details of such properties, assets and religious place. They were very methodical in destroying properties.
Incidentally, the crusaders of Hindutva did not even spare a “good Musalman” by the name of Husni Vilaiti Haider. Son of the big zamindar of Ayodhya, he had led delegation of Muslims to Murli Manohar Joshi offering themselves for kar seva some weeks back. He had also donated a large chunk of land to the VHP trust for Ram Mandir. But these credentials did not apparently wash. Hundreds of refugees are ready to vouch for the bitter truth that the provincial police force was not a silent spectator. They actively joined the kar sevak. The policy control room of Ayodhya was taken over by kar sevaks on December 4 itself, they allege. The wireless sets were at their disposal.
Local Help: However, it is really heartening to know from the terror-stricken refugees that local residents of Ayodhya were not involved in any of these barbaric deads. In fact, dozens of local Hindus took all kinds of risks to save Muslim neighbors. Many refugees acknowledge the help of one Yadav Pahalwan of Mohalla Shikhana. But by December 3, most of such “bad elements” had been neutralized by kar sevaks through threats, bashing and social boycott. Yadav Pehlwan was also taught a lesson. He was attacked and injured.
You enter Ayodhya. Though day curfew was relaxed a couple of days back, nobody seems to be around. After going around quite a few damaged monuments, shops and houses, one comes across a big house, near from the demolished Babri Masjid, which seems to have been “bombarded”. All walls standing almost infact while all roofs have fallen. You prepare to take snaps. Suddenly you see a middle aged women searching for something in the rubbles. You are told that it was once here home.
Part of it was destroyed on December 5, on the 6th evening it was plundered and on the forenoon of the 7th it was blasted with the help off petrol bombs and chemicals.
The tasks was accomplished by the same group which was seen demolishing the Babri Masjid the day before. It was led by a bearded chap who used to command the group through a whistle. She also recounts that on December 7 she and her family members were rescued by the Hindu CRPF officer who hid them in truck and took them to safety in Faizabad. She returned with her teenage son to Ayodhya only on the 29th December and was the first family to do so.
She is bewildered at the turn of events. But she is sure of one thing – “Whatever may be hardships, we shall stay here. Let us see for how long Congress and BJP keep on playing this game. We shall not leave. It is our motherland. It is our home. Why should we go? It is not somebody’s freedom. It is belongs to others, it belongs to us also. We were born here, we have lived here and we will die here.”
There are others too who are returning to the heap of rubble that had been their home, and that will hopefully be their home again.
My
interview on the Indian Supreme Court’s verdict on the Ayodhya site of
the Babri Mosque, which was demolished in 1992 by a large group of
Hindu activists of the right-wing Hindutva organizations.
Nasir Khan: Indian Top Court Ruling on Holy Site Political Judgment
TEHRAN
(FNA)- Nasir Khan, a historian and political activist, says the verdict
by the Indian Supreme Court to give the land of the Babri mosque in the
Northern town of Ayodhya falls short of a legal pronouncement.
Speaking
in an exclusive interview with FNA, Nasir Khan said, “It was more of a
political judgement, in which the difference between the perpetrators of
a major crime and the aggrieved party was ignored completely and
instead ordered thconstruction of a Hindu temple at the disputed
site.”
Nasir Khan, PhD of Philosophy, is an author,
historian and anti-war and human rights political activist. He has
written numerous articles on human rights and international affairs.
Below is the full text of the interview:
Q: How do you find the verdict, especially amid many instances of sectarian violence?
A: From a historical point of view, many mythical
heroes and gods were believed by people in the ancient civilizations of
Egypt, Greece, Assyria, etc. But with the passage of time, Egyptians
stopped believing in many gods such as Osiris, Isis and the divine child
Horus, among many others. In Greece the same thing happened: The old
Olympian gods and heroes were replaced by other gods and mythologies.
But in India ancient mythical stories continued to exist, and are still
regarded as part of Hinduism by the followers of this religion. The
Hindus who destroyed the Babri mosque believed in the myth of the
birthplace of Rama. This brief account is essential to understand the
mythical account of the life of god Rama that were tacitly accepted and
supported by the Supreme Court in its verdict.
The verdict falls short of a legal pronouncement,
based upon a judicious investigation of the evidence involved about the
land where the mosque stood. It was more of a political judgement, in
which the difference between the perpetrators of a major crime and the
aggrieved party was ignored completely and instead ordered the
construction of a Hindu temple at the disputed site. The court asked the
central government to prepare a scheme within three months to enforce
the order for the construction of the temple! The Muslims were to be
given a five acres of land in Ayodhya, as if the dispute was merely one
about the possession of a disputed piece of land. In this way, the goals
of the Hindutva government of Modi and the Hindu extremists were given
an endorsement by this unjust and lopsided judgement. It is amazing that
the court did not mention or condemn the wanton destruction of the
500-year old mosque in the summary of the verdict.
The question of sectarian violence after this
verdict should also be seen in a broader context of Indian political
system, where the Hindutva forces wield the cudgel. The Modi government
had made sure that the internet was not freely available to areas where
Muslims could protest or raise their voices. Indian Muslims are acutely
aware of their vulnerability in case of any opposition to this verdict.
The fear of attacks by the militant Hindus is not something they can
ignore. They know how over two thousand Muslims were massacred by the
Hindu mobs.
Q: Do you believe justice was served by the verdict?
A: Modi bears much responsibility for the communal
violence in India when he was the chief minister of Gujarat. In 2002,
there was a mass bloodbath in his state in which more than two thousand
Muslims were killed, their women raped and their properties pillaged by
the Hindu mobs when a train carrying Hindu pilgrims caught fire in which
58 people died. Without any evidence, Modi accused Pakistan of causing
the fire. Within hours of his provocation, the killing of Muslims
started in his state. The way the Hindu mobs molested and raped Muslim
women is too painful for me to repeat here.
Modi has shown his political base is his militant
right-wing parties and followers who want to change India into a Hindu
rashtra. How to do this is part of the political strategy of Hindutva
which he follows. The first major step he took on 5 August was to
colonize the 8-million Kashmiri Muslims by isolating them in a total
blockade by the most savage means.
In India, it is the Hindutva that reigns supreme,
and Modi is their leader. The Indian judicial system is not immune
against the prevailing political situation and policies of the Modi
government. The verdict of the Supreme Court has left no doubt in the
minds of political observers that the highest court of the land has
furthered the anti-Muslim communal policies of the present government.
Q: Islam is the second largest religion in
India, with approximately 200 million Muslims. Why do Indian Muslims
struggle to retrain their religious rights?
A: The causes of the social, economic and
political condition of Indian Muslims in a predominately Hindu India are
many. The British rulers of India had their own colonial interests.
When the Indian freedom movement gained momentum after the First World
War, the British rulers found themselves in a precarious situation in
face of the growing demands of freedom, which was mostly led by the
Indian National Congress. When the Muslim League under the leadership of
M.A. Jinnah made his Two-Nation Theory a basis for establishing a
Muslim state, Pakistan, that finally resulted in 1947 in the partition
of India into India and Pakistan, the Muslims who lived in India
suffered most. Most Hindus never forgave Muslims for the partition of
India. As a result, the Indian Muslims have been suspect in the eyes of
Hindus, and over the years their political and economic condition became
weak. The upsurge of militant Hindutva nationalism in India and the
goals of Hindu rashtra regard Muslims as their main enemies. So, the
Indian Muslims live in that anti-Muslim environment and are subject to
many social and political pressures as unwanted people in India.
In a searching and thoughtful comment, Maria Moorat gave her views on the issue of injustices. I reproduce her comment here, followed by my comment.
Maria Moorat: Some people rail against injustice, wherever it occurs. The trouble is we are frustrated by our tiny voices being ignored. Even large public demonstrations are ignored; they may hit the headlines, but the next day the status quo continues. The powers that be, and the armament companies, will not stop selling death dealing devices to India or Israel or Saudi, or wherever, the business is too lucrative and they care nothing for those who die. And, the media in the west has brainwashed people into believing untruths.
Nasir Khan: Maria, what you say is strikingly true. It is a fact that some people speak up against injustices, and occasionally also get much support for the causes they stand for. But in the long run, the political establishment prevails, and no substantial results are achieved in the fight against the main purveyors of violence and abusers of human rights.
For instance, when President George W. Bush was planning
a war of aggression against Iraq to further the US imperial and Zionist
interests in the Middle East, millions of people around the world
protested against the coming war. There was much enthusiasm in the
masses of people against the plans of the American ruling gangsters.
But Bush went ahead. He invaded Iraq, and ravaged a large Arab country
as much his administration wanted. Americans virtually, destroyed Iraq.
When all this was taking place in the most brutal way, the protesters
and protests had died down. Only a small minority of writers, bloggers,
journalists and anti-war organizations continued to voice their
opposition to the policies of the US imperialists. I was also one of
those people, writing continuously on my blogs and on different
websites. But the militarists and warmongers did not stop. So, the
voices of protesters and opponents of wars did not affect the policies
of the aggressor.
The same thing has been going on in
Palestine and Kashmir. Two most vicious and brutal colonial powers,
Israel and India, feel free to kill, suppress and suffocate the
colonized people. This is happening before our eyes. No powerful country
intervenes to stop the savagery in Palestine and Kashmir.
Pakistani PM Imran Khan’s words of warning in the UNGA were not a
threat to anyone, but a warning against the great threat that India has
unleashed in Kashmir by its military terror by encapsulating over 8
million Kashmiris into a big prison, by cutting them off from any
contact with the outside world or with each other. Such savagery the
world has not seen over such a large population.
As I have suggested a few times before about the present large-scale
state terror and the incredible cruelty in Kashmir that India has
started with fresh vigor is to advance the objectives of the Hindutva
ideology of extremist fanaticism that targets and discriminates against
the religious and marginalized minorities within the Indian state.
The course followed by India violates the fundamental principles of
the United Nations Charter, international law and international norms
dealing with subjugated or colonized population.
There is only
one sane way for the Indian government in the present inferno that
India has created in Kashmir, and that is to reverse its toxic policy it
imposed on the Kashmiris on 5 August 2019, restore the autonomous
status of Jammu and Kashmir, and then enter into serious negotiations
with Kashmiris and Pakistan under the direction of the United Nation
with a view to end the old conflict according to the wishes of the
people of Kashmir.
There are three parties to the conflict, the
people of Kashmir, India and Pakistan. The fate of Kashmir and Kashmiris
cannot be decided by the Indian occupation army and its barbaric
treatment of the people of Kashmir, but only by the people of Kashmir.
Akashma Marivel Guzman, you have nicely highlighted the facts about the Indian crimes in Kashmir since 1948, and what you say is absolutely true. The UN can still take steps to stop the Indian savagery in Kashmir, but there are too many restraints upon its proper functioning. The big powers have their geopolitical and economic interests in international politics. They are quite complacent with the policies of India in international trade and economic relations.
The rights of the Kashmiri people to determine their future, like the rights of the colonized and oppressed Palestinians, have no bearing upon the policy decisions of these powers. This has been evident whenever the Kashmir issue came up before the United Nations, as happened in August this year. As a result, the UN is in a state of limbo, not able to implement its resolutions regarding Jammu and Kashmir or Palestine.
One-million soldiers of the Indian army in Kashmir are profoundly drilled into anti-Muslim hatred and animosity by the leaders of Hindutva fascism. They are free to kill, maim, blind the protesters by using pellets, rape the Kashmiri women, imprison and torture the people who stand against the Indian colonial rule over their land and seek freedom. ——–
Akashma Online News —Akashma Marivel Guzman
Wikipedia is a disinformation website. Just read what you get, when searching “UN+Kashmir.” “The United Nations has played an important role in maintaining peace and order in Jammu and Kashmir soon after the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, when a dispute erupted between the two States on the question of Jammu and Kashmir.” Wikipedia What peace, are they talking about?The UN has 116 persons “keeping the peace, ” vs One million Indian soldiers dispersed all around J&K. The UN has spent its entire existence drafting resolutions, passing resolutions, convening meetings;both at the General Assembly and at the Security Council, without resolving a single conflict. But, through the pressure of the 5 states with veto power, they have imposed economic sanctions against States, whose policies go against the interest of such states (5 permanent members of the Security Council with veto power) Example, we can read this resolution passed on March 19, 1948, at the 269th Security Council Meeting. On the Articles of Settlements: A. Restoration of Piece and Order 2. The Government of India shall arrange: (a) For the progressive withdrawal from Jammu and Kashmir of such of its troops as are not required for the purpose of defense and security. (b) For stationing the reminder at such point as not to afford any intimidation or the appearance of intimidation, to the inhabitants of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Well, that was more than 71 years ago. Now, India has a soldier stationed in J&K per home/family amounting to almost one million soldiers. So, does the UN do anything has kept peace in the J&K state? The UN and its own Human Rights Report published in Feb. 2018, speaks of terrible abuse of #humanrights including torture, abuse of force, forced disappearanceof persons, almost 10,000. Can the UN do something about it? If the UN was true to its missions, it could stop India from getting away with its crimes—Drafting and passing a bonding resolution to force India to meet its obligation, it signed on 1947. But, as Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said to RT last week “He can not believe that India allies and economic partners care more for trade and profits than for human lives.” Khan can not believe, and I do believe, I’m sure of it. States are owned by powerful interests including War Industrial Complex, Pharmaceuticals and mine and agro-industry just to mention the more powerful. I have to include Media conglomerate, which partakes of the profits advertising human suffering. I’m so pessimist, that some type of miracle will fall from the sky and save the Muslims of J&K and that of the 200 million living in main India. 😔 —https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/mission/unmogip
“Nothing is more terrible than to see ignorance in action.”
–Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832 AD) —————– To see ignorance in action, as Goethe says, also means that we should be able to see the difference between ignorance and knowledge. Not an easy task for many of us! In fact, things get much fuddled when ignorance wrapped up in social and political dogmas is presented to us as accumulated wisdom.
The economic and political forces in society have power; they have also a large apparatus at their disposal to present what they do is for the common good. Their tasks are made easy with the help of intellectuals who are mostly organically linked to the ruling elite and the existing political structure. Because of their organic relationship with the existing power structure, they become the vocal spokespersons for the ruling class and its entrenched class interests. Next in line is the priestly class to do the rest; it finds the sanction of the heavenly powers to sustain what exists! As a result, most of us remain prisoners of ignorance without noticing it. This remains so despite the struggles of a tiny minority that swims against the current.
In his article, American investigative journalist and historian Gareth Porter has outlined the precarious America policy towards Iran under the Trump administration, in which two main warmongers, Bolton and Pompeo, play a vital role in the ongoing conflict with Iran.
In fact, the present military threats of war and the annihilation of Iran by the only domineering superpower in the world, the United States of America, are extremely dangerous after the US had unilaterally withdrawn from a nuclear deal with Iran. The nuclear deal was a result of many years’ work, supervised by an eight-member committee, consisting of the representatives of Iran, the United States of America, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union. Le me remind our readers and peace activists that an internationally binding agreement which the previous US administration of Obama had entered into cannot be flouted in this manner merely because America had a new administration under Mr. Trump! This uncalled for shift in the US policy was also a dangerous precedent in international law to disregard the legally binding agreements between states. The American action was and is a heavy blow to the rule of law in the world. Of course, the Israeli PM Netanyahu’s unrelenting efforts to embroil the US in a war with Iran is a major factor; a criminal war of aggression against Iran will serve the interests of the Zionist power in the Middle East and far beyond. It is obvious to many of us that Netanyahu has strong pro-war supporters in Bolton and Pompeo. But we should not forget that the Zionist machinations to crush Iran are also a threat to the world peace and to millions of innocent Iranians. The pro-war Pompeo-Bolton team and its Zionist mentors should be exposed and resisted. Political differences, real or contrived, should be solved by political negotiations in a peaceful and conciliatory way, not by war and violence.
What this article says is an utter fabrication and distortion of the truth about the American Jewish academic Prof Richard Falk.
We all know quite well that he has never said anything against any ethnic group or the followers of any religion, including the followers of Judaism. But the absurd and odious propaganda against this honorable human being, who has stood for peace and justice in Palestine, is a pathetic attempt by this news-site to mislead the people and to falsify the facts about the work of this brave and noble man.
Over the years, he has been a victim of the Zionists’ attacks and calumnies, but he has never compromised his principles or stopped his work to appease the Israeli lobby or its global agents. He has valiantly upheld the cause of the people of Palestine, who since 1948 have been ethnically cleansed and marginalized by the colonial-settler state of the Zionist terrorists. He stands on the side of a people who have been the victims of a brutal colonial power, Israel. All those people who stand for peace and justice in Palestine are proud to have Richard Falk as a clear voice of reason and truth. ————– https://www.jewishnews.net.au/furore-over-falk-visit/91186
Furore over Falk visit June 20, 2019
Richard Falk is set to speak in Sydney next month. Photo: Peter Haskin
— Nasir Khan A constitution that is partially religious and partially democratic can never be fully democratic and fair to all sections of a given society. The problem gets worse in conservative and tradition-bound societies. The Constitution of Pakistan is framed within the parameters of a religion, not all religions that exist in that country. Therefore, its exploitation by religious extremists and manipulative politicians was/is inevitable. In a democratic society, a majority, political or religious, works and is responsible for the welfare of all. But it does not happen in this way in conservative and traditional societies. The victimization of religious minorities in Pakistan has been a big problem, and much of it is due to a problematic constitution. As a result, Islamist extremists and Muslim fanatics can target any innocent person under false charges of blasphemy in one shape or the other, as has happened many times in Pakistan. The Constitution of Pakistan needs a change where the exploitation of Islam will no longer be possible. We should respect all religions and believers of such religions as in democratic countries of western Europe.
According to a Human Rights Commission of Pakistan report,
over 1,000 non-Muslim girls are forcibly converted to Islam every year.
Meanwhile, over 4,000 blasphemy cases have been registered since 1986,
with at least 75 people
being extrajudicially killed over accusations of insulting Islam since
1986 – the year Sections 295-B and 295-C were added to the Pakistan
Penal Code, which sanctioned the death penalty for blasphemy.
Supremacism of any form can eventually evolve into a rallying call for violence against “the others,” with this month’s Christchurch terror attack
being a gory manifestation of white supremacist militancy. Similarly,
violence often is a corollary of religious supremacism, as exhibited by
the Hindutva surge in India and the radical Buddhists in Myanmar.
These aforementioned forms of ideological violence flourish despite
the lack of legal sanction provided to them. That’s where Islamist
legislation in Pakistan, and a few other Muslim countries, further adds to the vicious inertia by violently penalizing any Sharia violations.
Little wonder that the student who killed his professor for “speaking against Islam” expressed no remorse.
The murderer’s interpretation of blasphemy in this case was the
professor organizing a party with intermingling of male and female
students.
When outraging “religious feelings”
of only Muslims carries the death penalty, not only does it
intrinsically subjugate other religions, but the intangibility and
unquantifiability of the crime leaves it open to Islamist vigilantes.
Furthermore, in Pakistan’s case – unlike Saudi Arabia and Iran for instance – the fact that the state hasn’t judicially executed anyone for blasphemy further encourages mobs and vigilantes to take matters in their own hands. That is precisely what the Bahawalpur murderer said: He accused the state of “freeing the blasphemers,” referring to the acquittal of Christian woman Asia Bibi last year.
The blasphemy law acts as a menacing deterrent in forced conversion
cases as well, given that objections to “embracing Islam” can be
similarly deemed sacrilegious. Furthermore, even though most of the
forced conversions are child marriage cases, the state’s reluctance to
act is also rooted in the fact that 16 years remains the marriageable age for girls in many parts of the country.
Not only do Islamist groups become the biggest hindrance in legislation against child marriages and the upholding of women’s rights, attempts to ban minors’ religious conversion have similarly been shot down as “blasphemous.” Of course, any conversions in the country are one-way, for Pakistan is one of 13 Muslim states where leaving Islam, or apostasy, is punishable by death. The Islamist groups regularly cite the Sharia clauses in the Pakistani Constitution to shoot down any legislation that contradicts the narrowest interpretation of Islam.
Similarly, the ideological roots of forced conversions – most of
which involve Hindu girls – can be traced to Islamic supremacism,
branches of which self-manifest in the anti-Hindu bigotry etched in Pakistani curricula and mainstream narrative with the much-needed educational reforms yet to be carried out by the state.
Furthermore, given that most of these cases take place Sindh, the only Pakistani province that has established 18 as the marriageable age,
even the limited action that is taken to counter the forced conversion
and marriages is taken in light of Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act.
That allows the state to shelve these cases as child marriages alone,
ridding itself of any responsibility toward protecting the forced
conversions of religious minorities.
Earlier this month the government took the historic decision of sacking a minister for exhibiting anti-Hindu bigotry. Arrests have also been made in the Ghotki sisters’ case, further hinting at the state’s intent to right its wrongs from the past.
Even so, any long-lasting change would need reforms in Pakistan’s
Islamist laws. Because as long as a state upholds one religious
community over the rest and imposes that majority religion’s laws on all
of its citizens, it can neither truly safeguard the rights of its
minorities nor can it claim to be a democracy.
Blasphemy lynching and forced conversions can only be curtailed by
upholding human rights and ensuring that the civic law supersedes
religious law. That, in turn, is only possible through secularization of
the constitution.
Peace and Justice Post 
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